Review of Australian Higher Education

The Review of Australian Higher Education, conducted by an expert panel, led by Emeritus Professor Denise Bradley, was released 17 December 2008. The Australian Government will respond to the report in "early" 2009. The report makes some useful recommendations, such as flexible and collaborative delivery arrangements in partnership with TAFE. Unfortunately the report is difficult to read due to poor formatting of the electronic document. To make the report more accessible, I have created a plain text version of the recommendations and appended them to this posting.

1. Final Report in one document (PDF 2.55MB)
2. Executive summary, Recommendations and Findings only (PDF 182KB)
3. Part A - Title page to Chapter 2 (PDF 383KB)
4. Part B - Chapter 3 (PDF 1.2MB)
5. Part C - Chapter 4 (PDF 784KB)
6. Part D - Acronyms to Index (PDF 445KB)

Format of the report

The report is provided in PDF, as one document and divided into parts. The full report is offered as the first option on the web site and no easy to read, small HTML version of the report is provided. As a result the report will be much harder to read and bandwidth (and greenhouse gasses) will be wasted downloading megabytes of unnecessary material. At least a web version of the summary of the report should be provided and listed as the first document the reader is offered.

Recommendations Review of Australian Higher Education

1. That the Australian Government adopt the vision, strategic goals and principles for the higher education system set out in this report. (Chapter 1)
2. That the Australian Government set a national target of at least 40 per cent of 25- to 34-year-olds having attained a qualification at bachelor level or above by 2020. (Chapter 3.1)
3. That the Australian Government commission work on the measurement of the socio-economic status of students in higher education with a view to moving from the current postcode methodology to one based on the individual circumstances of each student. (Chapter 3.2)
4. That the Australian Government set a national target that, by 2020, 20 per cent of higher education enrolments at undergraduate level are people from low socio-economic status backgrounds. (Chapter 3.2)
5. That the Australian Government introduce the following package of reforms to the student income support system. (Chapter 3.3) ...
6. That the Australian Government undertake a regular process of triennial review of the income support system to assess the overall effectiveness of the support payments in reducing financial barriers to participation of students in need. (Chapter 3.3)
7. That the Australian Government require all accredited higher education providers to administer the Graduate Destination Survey, Course Experience Questionnaire and the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement from 2009 and report annually on the findings.
   (Chapter 3.4)
8. That the Australian Government increase the total funding allocation for the Research Infrastructure Block Grants program by about $300 million per year. This represents an increase from about 20 cents to 50 cents in the dollar for each dollar provided through competitive
   grants. (Chapter 3.5)
9. That the Australian Government commission research into future demand for, and supply of, people with higher degree by research qualifications and that it increase the number of Research Training Scheme places on the basis of the findings of the research. (Chapter 3.5)
10. That the Australian Government increase the value of Australian Postgraduate Awards to $25,000 per year and increase the length of support to four years, as recommended by the National Innovation Review, to provide greater incentives for high-achieving graduates to
    consider a research career. (Chapter 3.5)
    
11. That the regulatory and other functions of Australian Education International be separated, with the regulatory functions becoming the responsibility of an independent national
    regulatory body. (Chapter 3.6)
12. That the industry development responsibilities of Australian Education International be revised and be undertaken by an independent agency which is accountable to Commonwealth and
    state and territory governments and education providers. (Chapter 3.6)
13. That the Australian Government provide up to 1,000 tuition subsidy scholarships per year for international students in higher degree by research programs targeted to areas of skills shortage. The scholarships would give the recipients the benefit of being enrolled on the same basis as domestic students. (Chapter 3.6)
14. That higher education providers use a proportion of their international student income to match the Australian Government tuition scholarships by providing financial assistance for
    living expenses for international students in higher degrees by research. (Chapter 3.6)
15. That the Australian Government liaise with states and territories to ensure consistent policies for school-fee waivers for the dependants of international research students in government-subsidised places and examine its visa arrangements to improve the conditions
    for spouse work visas. (Chapter 3.6)
16. That, after further consideration of current problems with regional provision, the Australian Government provide an additional $80 million per year from 2012 in funding for sustainable
    higher education provision in regional areas to replace the existing regional loading. This should include funding to develop innovative local solutions through a range of flexible and collaborative delivery arrangements in partnership with other providers such as TAFE.
    (Chapter 3.7)
17. That the Australian Government commission a study to examine the feasibility of a new national university for regional areas and, if the study indicates that a new national regional university is feasible, the Australian Government provide appropriate funding for its
    establishment and operation. (Chapter 3.7)
18. That the Australian Government initiate a process with key stakeholders to determine the needs of outer metropolitan and regional areas for higher education and the best ways to
    respond to those needs. (Chapter 3.7)
19. That the Australian Government adopt a framework for higher education accreditation, quality assurance and regulation featuring:
    accreditation of all providers based on their capacity to deliver on core requirements including ... (Chapter 4.1)
20. That the Australian Government establish by 2010, after consultation with the states and territories, a national regulatory body to be responsible for:
    
    • accrediting and reaccrediting all providers of higher education and accrediting their courses where the provider is not authorised to do so;
    • conducting regular quality audits of higher education providers;
    • providing advice on quality, effectiveness and efficiency; and
    • registering and auditing providers for the purposes of the Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act 2000. (Chapter 4.1)
21. That the Australian Government, after consultation with the states and territories, revise the processes for higher education accreditation and audit to provide for ... (Chapter 4.1)
22. That the Australian Government, after consultation with the states and territories, develop more rigorous criteria for accrediting universities and other higher education providers based around strengthening the link between teaching and research as a defining characteristic of university accreditation and reaccreditation. In particular, universities should be required to ... (Chapter 4.1)
23. That the Australian Government commission and appropriately fund work on the development of new quality assurance arrangements for higher education as part of the new framework set out in Recommendation 19. This would involve ... (Chapter 4.1)
24. That the Australian Government, in consultation with the states and territories, review the Australian Qualifications Framework to improve and clarify its structure and qualifications
    descriptors. Ongoing responsibility for a revised qualifications framework should rest with the national regulatory body. (Chapter 4.1)
25. That the higher education financing system be designed around the following principles to... (Chapter 4.2)
26. That the Australian Government increase the base funding for teaching and learning in higher education by 10 per cent from 2010. (Chapter 4.2)
27. That the Australian Government maintain the future value of increased base funding for higher education by an indexation formula that is based on 90 per cent of the Labour Price Index (Professional) plus the Consumer Price Index with weightings of 75 per cent and
    25 per cent respectively. (Chapter 4.2)
28. That the Australian Government commission an independent triennial review of the base funding levels for learning and teaching in higher education to ensure that funding levels remain internationally competitive and appropriate for the sector. (Chapter 4.2)
29. That the Australian Government introduce a demand-driven entitlement system for domestic higher education students, in which recognised providers are free to enrol as many eligible
    students as they wish in eligible higher education courses and receive corresponding government subsidies for those students. The arrangements would...
30. That the Australian Government regularly review the effectiveness of measures to improve higher education access and outcomes for Indigenous people in consultation with the Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council. (Chapter 4.2)
31. That the Australian Government increase the funding for the access and participation of under-represented groups of students to a level equivalent to 4 per cent of the total grants for teaching. This would be allocated through a new program for outreach activities and a loading
    paid to institutions enrolling students from low socio-economic backgrounds. Funding for the Disability Support Program would be increased to $20 million per year. (Chapter 4.2)
32. That the Australian Government quarantine 2.5 per cent of the total government funding for teaching and learning for each provider to be allocated on the basis of achievement against a set of institutional performance targets which would be negotiated annually. (Chapter 4.2)
33. That the Australian Government commission work on options for achieving a more rational and consistent sharing of costs between students and across discipline clusters in the context
    of triennial reviews of base funding for learning and teaching. (Chapter 4.2)
34. That the Australian Government implement an approach to tuition fees in which maximum student contribution amounts (price caps) apply for any domestic undergraduate or coursework postgraduate students for whom the provider receives a public subsidy for their
    course. (Chapter 4.2)
35. That the Australian Government implement an approach to tuition fees for domestic undergraduate students in which all providers are able to offer courses on a full-fee basis where public subsidies are not received for any students in that particular course. (Chapter 4.2)
36. That the Australian Government:
    
    • increase the maximum student contribution amount for nursing and education units of study for students commencing from 2010 to the band 1 rate; and
    • encourage people to enrol and work in nursing and teaching by reducing HELP debts for graduates who work in those professions by $1,500 per annum for each of five years, at the same time as their HELP repayment requirements are forgiven to an equivalent amount. (Chapter 4.2)
37. That the Australian Government:
    
    • increase the loan fee for FEE-HELP for fee-paying undergraduate students to 25 per cent; and
    • remove the loan fee on OS-HELP loans to encourage more Australian students to undertake part of their studies overseas. (Chapter 4.2)
38. That the Australian Government establish a new Structural Adjustment Fund amounting to about $400 million in funding over a four-year period from 2009-10 to assist the sector to adapt to the reforms recommended in this report. (Chapter 4.2)
39. That the Australian Government provide funds to match new philanthropic donations received in the sector as a means of stimulating an additional revenue stream from this source with the
    cost capped per institution, and in total at $200 million over three years. (Chapter 4.2)
40. That Australian Government legislation and guidelines contain clear and objective criteria for determining access to different types of funding and assistance for higher education. ... (Chapter 4.2)
41. That the Australian Government provide funds of $130 million over four years towards the costs of implementing these reforms. (Chapter 4.2)
42. That the Australian Government develop and implement an accountability framework for the new higher education funding system that is consistent with the broader funding, governance and regulatory framework. In particular it should ... (Chapter 4.2)
43. That the Australian Government negotiate with the states and territories to expand the national regulatory and quality assurance agency (Recommendation 20) to cover the entire tertiary sector (including vocational education and training and higher education) and that the Australian Government assume full responsibility for the regulation of tertiary education and training in Australia by 2010. (Chapter 4.3)
44. That the Australian Government negotiate with the states and territories to introduce a tertiary entitlement funding model across higher education and vocational education and training (VET) commencing with the upper levels of VET (diplomas and advanced diplomas) and progressing to the other levels as soon as practicable. (Chapter 4.3)
45. That the Australian Government negotiate with the states and territories to extend income contingent loans to students enrolled in VET diplomas and advanced diplomas. (Chapter 4.3)
46. That the Australian Government and the governments of the states and territories agree to:
    
    • establish a single ministerial council with responsibility for all tertiary education and training;
    • improve the scope and coordination of labour market intelligence so that it covers the whole tertiary sector and supports a more responsive and dynamic role for both vocational education and training and higher education; and
    • expand the purpose and role of the National Centre for Vocational Education Research so that it covers the whole tertiary sector. (Chapter 4.3)

Excerpt from: Review of Australian Higher Education, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 17 December 2008